ISL 2017: 5 racism controversies that rocked Indian football

#4 Aizawl FC fans allegedly face racism on multiple occasions

Aizawl FC fans are present in almost all cities of India.

Aizawl FC from Mizoram, scripted history in the 2017 edition of the I-League, as they became the first ever team from the NorthEast to be crowned as the 'Champions of India'. Everything went well for the Reds on the field, but this was not the case in the stands.

Several Aizawl FC fans claimed that they were victims of 'racial abuse' across the country in the club's away games.

Sportskeeda had earlier got in touch with Aizawl fans, who said:

''They hurl abuses like, “If you want to play football, go play in China, why play in India”. That really hurts us because despite the fact that there have been so many players in the national team over the years who are from the North East and people are still not being able to accept it.''

“That hurts because we travel from one part of the country to another to watch our team play and at the end, we hear things like ‘go back to China’.”

“We think during the heat of the competition, especially during matchdays, people don’t tend to give much thought to what is right and what is wrong; they say whatever they see. So, that’s the time when they are at their most racist, and stuff like Chinese, etc. are being called.”

Aizawl FC fans have also been abused in their own backyard in the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium as per the Aizawl FC Fans. They claimed :

''Lot of times travelling fans come to Aizawl, and they essentially don’t spare you with the racism. Obviously, it’s far more toned down because we are more in number at home, but we can understand them during the game, especially Bengali fans when they are talking their local dialect, we can understand what they are throwing at us, like Chinese c**** and stuff like that.''